Dark Destiny (38 page)

"You're never a bother, Velda. Of course we'll take the child if he has no one else. Velda fusses and spoils them, but I'd see to it that he ate properly and went to school. She'd be useless, taking him for outings all the time and giving him junk food."

"Father Mulligan has a family in mind," Velda said. "A couple who have always wanted children and could never have any. He's helping them fill out the necessary paperwork and talking with the social workers now. I believe he was meeting your young man and taking him along."

So that's what you're up to, smoothing the way
. Hope blossomed in the pit of her stomach, a starburst she tried hard to squelch. She had lived most of her life without hope, without allowing others into her life. Velda and Inez lived their lives without fear of rejection. They dressed the way they wanted to dress, and they chose to have fun in their lives. Father Mulligan had told her to have courage. She was beginning to realize that meant the courage to actually enjoy her life.

She suddenly wanted to be with Nicolae, to feel his arms around her. He had had the courage to take tainted blood from her. So she would never feel like an outcast, never feel alone. She was afraid to allow the full scope of such a magnificent sacrifice into her mind, into her heart, because she feared she might love him too much.

Destiny was instantly ashamed of herself. Nicolae deserved better than what he was getting. Impulsively she leaned over to kiss Velda, and then Inez, on their cheeks. "Thank you both. You're the best! I'm going to go grill Mary Ann. Have you seen her?"

"Well, no, dear. This is Thursday. She always does her books on Thursday and isn't fit for company."

Destiny's eyebrow shot up. That sounded intriguing. She never paid attention to what day of the week it was, but Thursday with MaryAnn sounded interesting. Destiny found the woman in her office, scowling down at a book filled with numbers. "You don't look as though you're having fun, my friend," she greeted with a sunny smile.

Mary Ann glanced up at her, a frown on her face. "I detest accounting. I always find I need far more money to go out than I managed to take in. I've stared at this page until I'm cross-eyed and I can't make the numbers change."

Destiny studied MaryAnn's large, chocolate-colored eyes. "You do look a bit cross-eyed. We can't have that. How much do you need?"

Mary Ann laughed and tossed down her pencil with a little gesture of defeat. "Let's just say robbing a bank is beginning to look like a way out."

Destiny leaned onto the desk with both elbows and propped up her chin in her palm. "I could do that for you," she offered, straight-faced. "It's rather a specialty of mine. Walk in, sight unseen, collect what I need and get out. No one's the wiser. And doors don't stop me; neither can a safe. Where do you think the money I've donated came from?" She widened her eyes to look as innocent and sweet as possible.

There was a moment of silence. The smile faded from MaryAnn's face and she looked horrified. "Destiny, surely you didn't steal that money? I used money from a bank robbery for my sanctuary?" There was a squeak of alarm in her voice.

Destiny blinked rapidly. MaryAnn wadded up paper lying on the desk and threw it at her. "You're awful! Why do I think I like you? You almost gave me a heart attack."

"Shame on you for even thinking such a thing. Although, now that you mention it, the possibilities are endless."

"Don't even joke about it. That would really be the end of my sanctuaries. Funding is so darned difficult and with all the government scrutiny I have to make doubly certain every 'i' is dotted and every 'f is crossed."

"Are you really worried about money, Mary Ann?" Destiny asked.

"Well, of course, isn't everyone? The sanctuaries are expensive to maintain, and I try to do job training and help each family get started. A woman on the run is difficult to hide, especially if children are involved. I have some help, but it isn't easy to keep the funding going. Grants can only cover so much and we do fund-raisers, but people tend to forget if we don't keep our cause in the spotlight. When you're hiding women from violent, determined husbands, the last thing you want is publicity. It's just complex, that's all." MaryAnn sighed softly. "Don't mind me, Destiny. Thursday's are my complaining days."

Destiny grinned at her mischievously. "Actually I knew that. Velda warned me to avoid you at all costs this evening."

MaryAnn groaned and rested her head on the table. "Don't tell me the entire world knows I'm a grouch."

"Only on Thursdays," Destiny pointed out helpfully. "Come on, don't be so down. Tell me how much money you need and I'll get it for you."

MaryAnn lifted her head to regard Destiny with deep suspicion. "You
cannot
rob a bank. I'll find a way to pay this month's bills without that."

"Actually I was thinking more about robbing the drug dealer a few miles from here. He's a nasty, slimy little man and has far too much cash for his own good. Just for the fun of it, from time to time I go and destroy all his drugs."

MaryAnn sat up very straight. "You don't really do that, do you? Those kinds of people are dangerous."

Destiny shrugged. "Not to me. They can't see me. I detest them—little worms destroying lives and thinking they know what power is. Why shouldn't a sanctuary have the money? It ought to be put to some good use. I just have to be careful to keep from starting a drug war, or allowing anyone else to take the blame."

MaryAnn stared with shock at Destiny's decidedly wicked smile. "How do you do it?"

Destiny's grin widened. "I plant memories in his nasty little mind. Every now and then he has way too much to drink or he suddenly gets an attack of acute remorse. That's my personal favorite. He thinks he gave the money away but can't remember to whom, and he thinks he destroyed the drugs."

"You really do this, don't you? Does Nicolae know?"

Destiny straightened abruptly. "Did you have to bring him into this? He has nothing to do with it. I sneak into the movie theater, too, and I don't have his permission for that either." There was a note of defiance in her voice that made her sound a shade childish. It annoyed her. She didn't need to answer to Nicolae, and she wasn't apologizing for her independence. She had no idea why she was feeling guilty.

The warmth flooding her body only increased her irritation. She knew he was secretly amused. Worse, he always managed to elicit a response from her, whether physical or emotional.
I used to be a perfectly reasonable person before you got hold of me
.

"Sneaking into the movie theater is hardly the same thing. One is dangerous, one is not," MaryAnn said severely.

Is something romantic playing at the theater? I will take you there. We could have an interesting time in the back row in a dark corner
. His voice was soft and seductive, playing over her skin like the caressing touch of his fingers.
I would be happy to keep you away from trouble
.

In spite of her determination, she couldn't help her melting response. She was happy. She had never really experienced happiness.
It sounds like definite trouble to me
. But she wanted to go with him. It would be fun sitting in the theater pretending they were a regular couple madly in love and wanting to sneak a few moments together in a dark corner.
But I'll go with you
.

I think Velda and Inez are on to something here. Maybe we ought to pick up the chocolate, after all.

She loved the teasing note in his voice.
I'll let you surprise me
. She loved sharing with him. Reaching for him and having him be there with her.

"Are you listening to me, Destiny? Dealers are dangerous criminals. They think nothing of killing people. You can't do things like that, even for a good cause."

Destiny turned her attention to her friend.
Friend
. She savored the word. When she had first encountered Mary Ann, it had never occurred to her that she would one day be in her office, perched on her desk, teasing her. "Let me take a look at what you need. Fund-raising is my particular forte." She reached casually across the desk and snagged the offending book, quickly scanning the open pages before MaryAnn could snatch it away.

"No, you don't. You're impossible. Do you really like to go to movies?"

"It's my favorite thing," Destiny admitted. "I've gone to every vampire movie made. The old ones were very cool. I found them in a small theater that seems to be geared mainly for cult movies. It got to be an addiction. I'd go through every single newspaper looking for what was playing. Sometimes I'd sit through the movie twice."

"Is that where you got your fear of garlic and churches?" MaryAnn teased, pleased to turn the tables.

"Since we're talking about it, why did you accept my being different, a vampire… well, a Carpathian… so easily?" Destiny demanded. "It really bothers me that you have no sense of self-preservation, MaryAnn."

MaryAnn threw back her head and laughed. "Easily? You think I just accepted the existence of vampires so easily? You forget I couldn't leave the church. I sat there all night long. Praying. Screaming. Crying. Wanting to run for my life. In the end, I realized that you seemed different."

"I still don't understand why you accepted me, MaryAnn?" Destiny insisted. "You should have condemned me. You should have hidden yourself from me."

MaryAnn shrugged. "I already knew you. I'd looked into your eyes. If you were going to hurt me, you would have done it a long time ago. Your eyes were…" She broke off, searching for the right description. "Haunted. Your eyes were haunted, and I didn't want to turn my back on you no matter what you were."

"I'm glad you didn't. Thank you, MaryAnn." Destiny was humbled by the truth. She couldn't imagine MaryAnn turning her back on anyone.

Even as they were smiling at one another, the dark shadow of violence slipped into her mind. She sighed, slid off the desk, turned toward the door, all too aware of the man hurrying toward the office. "Stay behind me, MaryAnn." Her tone had changed completely, was authoritative and firm.

Before MaryAnn had a chance to respond, the door smashed open, bouncing against the wall, splintering the door frame. John Paul stood in the doorway, breathing hard, his breath coming in hard gasps, his eyes wild, his huge, hamlike fists clenching and unclenching at his sides.

"John Paul," MaryAnn said quietly, "what can I do for you this evening? It's after hours and I was just leaving with my friend."

John Paul didn't even glance at Destiny. His glassy stare was fixed on MaryAnn as he shuffled closer. "Where is Helena? I need her, MaryAnn. Give her back to me."

Destiny touched his mind. It was filled with his intense resolve to get to Helena. He had no real plan, no idea of what he would do when he found her, only a deep need to find her. She could sense the shadow of violence embedded deep in him, but there was no taint of the vampire. No surge of power, however slight, that might indicate he was a puppet of the undead.

"John Paul, you know Helena is somewhere safe. You wanted her to go, remember? You wanted her to be safe." MaryAnn was firm but still soothing.

John Paul shook his head adamantly. "Give her back to me." He shoved a large, deep-cushioned chair out of his way and stepped closer to MaryAnn. He didn't even glance at Destiny, didn't appear to notice that anyone else was in the room.

John Paul was so close to her, his jacket brushed Destiny's shoulder. She cleared her throat experimentally, to draw his attention, but it was wholly centered on MaryAnn.

"I didn't take Helena, John Paul. She
needed
some time away from you while she thought things over. Do you remember coining into this office with her? Both of you cried. You begged me to take care of her, and I promised you I would."

Without warning, John Paul swept his heavy arm across the desk, sending papers and the lamp scattering in all directions. The lamp flew across the room, hit the wall and shattered. Tiny slivers of glass fell like rain to the carpet. John Paul's attention was immediately caught and held by the glittering pieces of glass.

"MaryAnn, very slowly back into the next room," Destiny said softly. "He's under some kind of compulsion, and there's something about the shattered glass that's the trigger." She couldn't read anything in his mind other than the sudden need for extreme violence. It was an ugly roar, a need to grab and smash anything or anybody close to him. The roar was all she could distinguish at first, but Destiny dodged his swinging fists with blurring speed and concentrated on the sounds bellowing in his mind.

John Paul slammed his fist into the wall, punching a hole through the middle. Spiderweb cracks appeared from floor to ceiling, radiating out from the center.

MaryAnn groaned. "Repairs. Oh, no, repairs are so costly."

John Paul's head snapped around toward the sound of Mary Ann's voice, his brows drawing together, his fists swinging.

Destiny tapped his broad back to draw his attention away from MaryAnn. "Hey, big fella, I thought you wanted to dance with me. I'm the jealous type."

Stop playing around, Destiny. If that besotted idiot lays another hand on you, I will tear him into little pieces. I am not in the least amused, nor am I joking with you
.

In spite of Nicolae's grim tone, Destiny wanted to laugh.
Pitiful male. I'm not slow dancing with him. There's no need for jealousy
. She ducked John Paul's fist and slipped just out of his reach, staying close enough that the large man kept his attention on her.

"What do you want me to do? Shall I call the police?" MaryAnn asked anxiously, wincing as John Paul struck at Destiny again.

"No, don't talk, I want his attention on me at all times." Destiny was working at deciphering the code in his head. He was fast for a big man, but she was much faster and not worried about getting hit. The noises in his head were nearly unbearable. Loud roars and growls, piercing whistles and shrieks. A buzzing like a swarm of bees. She separated the sounds, filtering them as she dodged around the small office always just inches out of John Paul's reach.